HOSPACE 2014 delegates to benefit from most wide ranging and informative programme yet of HOSPA’s popular 18 practical and topical hospitality ‘Educational Workshops’
HOSPACE 2014 – HOSPA's Annual Conference and Exhibition for Hospitality Finance, Revenue Management, IT and Commerce Professionals on 20 November at Sofitel London Heathrow, Terminal 5 – is the largest and most prestigious annual gathering of like-minded hospitality practitioners in the UK
HOSPACE 2014 – HOSPA's Annual Conference and Exhibition for Hospitality Finance, Revenue Management, IT and Commerce Professionals on 20 November at Sofitel London Heathrow, Terminal 5 – is the largest and most prestigious annual gathering of like-minded hospitality practitioners in the UK
The HOSPACE 2014 afternoon programme of 18 highly practical and topical hospitality 'Educational Workshops' – designed to put 'theory into practice' – promises to be more wide ranging and informative than ever for hospitality finance, revenue management and IT professionals.
The subjects will range from: 'Times change and the Uniform System of Accounts for the Lodging Industry (USALI) has now changed with them'; 'Are You Ready? The future of revenue management is now'; and 'Tech Giants are transforming our industry: what does it mean or hoteliers?'; to 'How free guest WiFi can earn you money and increase loyalty'; 'The guest journey – why your property management system (PMS) should do the donkey work'; and 'Why guest feedback (and data) should dictate the operational processes and the marketing strategy'.
The afternoon HOSPACE 2014 Educational Workshops on 20 November at the Sofitel, London Heathrow, Terminal 5 – all presented by companies and organisations that are specialists in their particular fields – have been designed to enhance Continuing Professional Development (CPD) and support the one-day event which includes the two newly introduced, 70-minute in-depth 'HOSPA Spotlight' sessions that will be addressing: 'How to get the most from the data insights revolution'; and 'Hospitality cures for sleepless night anxieties – from fraud and PCI compliance, to OTA commissions, purchasing technology, and a new challenge: trading coming out of a recession'.
Each of the 'Interactive Educational Workshops' have been placed into streams for Finance, Revenue Management and Information Technology – with subjects that respectively include: 'An introduction to the HFTP's Global Hospitality Accounting Common Practices (GHACP) project'; 'How to transform abandoned website traffic into direct bookings'; and 'Hassle Free IT for Hotels'.
The HOSPA IT Community will be hosting two interactive panel workshops – chaired by HOSPA IT Community Chairman Bryan Steele, who also is Head of IT, Royal Automobile Club – on the topics of 'Hotel Infrastructure Requirements' and 'Mobility'. In the case of the former, the panel will consider the implications for infrastructure in areas such as: voice and video services including media streaming; increasing Internet bandwidth demands; convergence of entertainment; Internet and room/building management solutions; supporting mobile devices for guests and staff; and
'On premise' versus 'cloud-based technology' delivery and support. In the 'Mobility' discussion,
the panel will explore developments with mobile applications, that will include: guest-facing solutions and the services that work; staff-facing solutions and how they can deliver improved guest service and efficiency; and different approaches to delivery and management of the solutions.
In addition, the HOSPA IT Community will stage a 'New Technology Showcase' involving
new company entrants to the IT hospitality sector, who will each have around five minutes to showcase their IT solutions/services and then answer delegate questions.
The Educational Workshops will be run in three half-hour, early-afternoon slots at the Conference, so delegates can attend up to three workshops of their choice from the 18 sessions. In each half-hour time allocation, delegates will have the opportunity to select one from a choice of six available sessions.
Commenting on the Workshops, HOSPA Chief Executive Carl Weldon said: "Information, education and inspiration are key HOSPA objectives that underpin HOSPACE 2014; and nowhere is this better illustrated than in our popular, annual programme of 18 Educational Workshops. They have been designed to help delegates reinforce what they have learnt at the conference; attain new information; and enhance their existing knowledge and range of industry contacts.
"We are delighted to welcome the Educational Workshop presenters – all national and international experts in their particular fields. "We are especially pleased that Arlene Ramirez – Principal at ADR Consulting in Houston, Texas, and current Global Secretary of our US-based sister organisation HFTP – will be presenting two Educational Workshops, related to the revised 11th edition of USALI. She will be introducing delegates to HFTP's Global Hospitality Accounting Common Practices (GHACP) Database. It is an invaluable and unique resource that financial professionals, owners, investors and benchmarking information services can use to identify common practices for hotel management reporting, and how they can vary from region to region.
"HOSPA would like to thank publicly all the companies and organisations, presenting the HOSPACE 2014 Educational Workshops, for their invaluable time and support. They include: Avvio, Duetto, Evention, Fourteen IP Communications, Fourth Hospitality, Hewlett-Packard, HFTP, IDeaS, Maxxton, Oracle and Micros, Sky for Business, Ve Interactive, and XN Hotel Systems."
Other HOSPACE 2014 highlights:
- Setting the scene for the one-day HOSPACE 2014: the traditionally popular 'HOSPACE Industry Overview' – comprising the latest hotel data again presented by STR Global and PwC, with the addition this year of the latest sales trends for the UK eating-out and drinking-out market by Coffer Peach
- The eagerly awaited HOSPACE annual 'Leaders Panel' discussion which, with the upturn in the economy, will examine – amongst other topics – the key question of 'how is the hospitality industry investing in the future'? Under the expert guidance of Panel Chairman Peter Hancock, Chief Executive, Pride of Britain Hotels, the 'Leaders Panel' will include: Steve Cassidy, Area Vice President, UK & Ireland, Hilton Worldwide, responsible for the company's multi-brand portfolio across the British Isles; Simon Ewins, Chief Operating Officer, hub by Premier Inn and CSR, Whitbread Hotels & Restaurants, who is responsible for the roll-out of Whitbread's new high-tech city centre hotels: 'hub by Premier Inn'; Heiko Figge, Head of private equity company Moorfield Group's hospitality portfolio; and Phil Le-Brun, Senior Director - European Restaurant Solutions at McDonald's Europe Ltd.
- 'How the hospitality industry can get the most from the data insights revolution' is the subject of the very first in-depth, 70-minute 'HOSPA Spotlight' session. The top line-up of 'information insights' specialists, dealing with the hospitality industry, will comprise: Michael Heyward, Director, Hotel Performance Support Europe, InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG); business intelligence specialist Samir Sharma, Chief Executive of datazuum – which enables companies to turn data into valuable insights; Peter Martin, Vice President, CGA Peach (provider of unique research, analysis, insight and market access in the UK eating-out and drinking-out market) who is a leading commentator on this sector of the UK hospitality industry, and Vice-President of the Association of Licensed Multiple Retailers (ALMR), the licensed retail trade organisation; Isabelle Pinson, Senior Director of Market Management for Northern Europe, Expedia Lodging Partner Services; and Paul Squires, UK Wireless Manager, Hewlett-Packard (HP). Chairing the session will be Michael Prager, non-executive Chairman of Optimal Monitoring Limited & Hospitality Pro, and formerly Senior Vice President Sales & Marketing for Europe, Africa and the Middle East, Hilton Worldwide. He is also a former Vice President – Sales, Planning & Development, InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG).
- Rounding off HOSPACE 2014's morning sessions: a 'Tourism Council Overview' presented by British Hospitality Association Chief Executive Ufi Ibrahim, who is also Chairman of the Tourism Alliance.
- The focal point of HOSPACE 2014's afternoon sessions will be a second in-depth, 70-minute 'HOSPA Spotlight', which this time will be shone on 'Hospitality cures for sleepless night anxieties ' – from fraud and PCI compliance, to OTA commissions, purchasing technology and a new challenge: trading coming OUT of a recession!' The panellists will include: Jim Gee, Partner and Head of Forensic and Counter Fraud Services, PKF Littlejohn; Paul Nisbett Finance & Commercial Director, The Hotel Collection, and Chairman of the HOSPA Finance Community; Bryan Steele, Head of IT, Royal Automobile Club, and Chairman of the HOSPA IT; and Rajesh Vohra, Sales & Marketing Director, Sarova Hotels, who is also President of HEDNA's (Hotel Electronic Distribution Network Association) Board of Directors. HVS Chairman Russell Kett, will be presiding over the afternoon 'HOSPA' Spotlight session.
- As in previous years, HOSPACE 2014 will be hosting its ever growing Exhibition of hospitality technology solutions – providing delegates with a 'one stop shop' to view and interact with the latest and 'best in class' technologies – covering all eventualities for any hospitality business, whether they be start-up, established independent, or multi chain-owned, operations
- Demonstration and study by Dr. Ajay 'AJ' Aluri – Assistant Professor at the Department of Management, College of Business & Economics, West Virginia University – of consumer behaviour regarding Google's innovative 'Glass' technology, introduced from the US to the UK in June 2014. Dr Aluri will be examining how wearable computing technologies will both positively and negatively affect the hospitality industry. He will be demonstrating Google 'Glass' and will be collecting data from HOSPACE delegates to examine consumer behaviour when using 'Glass' in the context of the hospitality industry. Google 'Glass' has been called an 'ubiquitous computing' device – with an optical head-mounted display that can be integrated to mobile, and can be operated hands-free using simple voice commands. This is a new type of tourism in which cyber travellers virtually travel and experience a destination in real-time, as a substitute for physical travel
- The event's grand finale Gala Dinner – including the signature 'HOSPA Pub Quiz and entertainment' – is one of the traditional social networking highlights of the Conference.